Colony Park Anaheim

March 29, 2018 by Edwin Baloloy

Thinking about filing a lawsuit or litigation against your condo HOA?

One of the most common enemies of high density / high-rise condo living (or ANY home for that matter) is a plumbing leak. I’ve witnessed many cases where a leak occurred on a condo or townhome for sale and the source was either from a common area or adjacent unit. I remember one occurrence where a toilet flooded a listing and water damaged the unit next door and below.

When this happens, many condo or home owners will seek to use the HOA’s insurance for the building. After the claim is received, the adjuster will determine if the incident is covered by the HOA’s policy or if the homeowner(s) are responsible. As you can imagine, there are numerous disputes that arise where the HOA’s insurance refuses to cover certain situations.

A dreaded water pipe leak. A condo homeowner will hope it’s covered by the HOA.

Some homeowners think it’s a good idea to seek a lawsuit against the HOA or builder. While I’m certainly not qualified to give legal advise, I can share from the Real Estate perspective after a lawsuit is filed, the property manager and HOA Board of Directors are notified, and it appears on the HOA’s meeting minutes.

HOA Litigation and Effect on Marketability and Home Value

Yes — I have seen instances where it has affected short term value in a condo building or HOA community. Since the majority of homebuyers of condos will need a loan to purchase a condo for sale, the loan underwriter will usually require a “condo cert” or a review of the condominium HOA’s health indicators: the reserve funding, number of non-owner (investor) units, insurance information, and whether or not the HOA is in litigation. This includes if the HOA is the Plaintiff or the Defendant.

If any red flags are raised during the condo cert request, the loan may be declined. This usually will reduce the pool of buyers to only speciality loans and cash buyers. The specialty loans often have higher interest rates and costs.

*The dreaded “in litigation” on a condo listing is not a welcome sight to buyer’s agents when viewing the MLS.*

I represented a buyer on a recent condo sale where the HOA was suing the builder. The sale remarks in the MLS were “Condo HOA in litigation” and my buyer needed a loan to purchase. Since she loved the high-rise unit in Downtown Long Beach, we tried for it anyway. We encountered some initial challenges in escrow, but the underwriter was able to approve the loan. Shortly after that condo closed escrow, fellow agents told me they didn’t encounter the same luck in the building and asked for my lender’s contact info that was able to do the loan.

As condo buildings become older, it’s almost inevitable litigation will exist periodically and eventually settled. During those periods, condo units are still able to sell, but with more challenges.

February 12, 2018 by Edwin Baloloy

BIG changes happening at Downtown Disney Anaheim

If you’re local to the Anaheim area, you likely have experienced first-hand the new parking policy of Downtown Disney which in short, pretty much eliminates all of us locals from just taking a quick visit and grabbing a cup of coffee, snack, or cocktail.

*Photo of the new “Splitsville” under construction in the background.*

Understandably, the old parking policy which allowed all guests 2 hours of free parking (without validation) had many scenarios where Annual Passholders were better off skipping the $20 parking structure fee and using the Downtown Disney parking lot, even if they had to pay for an additional hour beyond their validation. This often resulted in an absolutely jammed parking lot and traffic on Disneyland Drive. Catching an Uber or Lyft ride in the area has become a nightmare as well: the new pickup spot for rideshare is beyond the parking booths — meaning Uber drivers (who are usually not familiar with the area) end up being delayed in their pickups. In my case, our drivers actually cancelled us after not wanting to wait in the mess.

Closed: Build-A-Bear, D23, Ride Makerz, House of Blues (relocated to Garden Walk)

New additions or coming soon: Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, Black Tap Craft Burgers, Splitsville, Ballast Point, and an updated Naples which likely will have an outdoor patio.

I’m personally excited about all of the above additions and think DTD would now make one heck of a bar hop starting from Trader Sams at the Disneyland Hotel and ending at The Fifth across Harbor Blvd. These are all blog subjects for another day.

For now, I’ll share my thoughts on my first visit to Splitsville where my family and friends had dinner last Friday night.

We originally saw Splitsville on a prior visit to California Adventure and was pleasantly surprised. We recognized the name from their location at Disney Springs in Orlando.

The outdoor bar is really jaw dropping and I can only think of PF Changs in Irvine Spectrum and many of the outdoor bars in the Park Las Vegas to rival the great use of outdoor space and openness of many new restaurant designs.

We decided to invite some friends for dinner and expected your typical touristy pricing associated with the Disneyland Resort. We waited about 30 minutes for a table and had time for some cocktails in the patio. A vodka soda with Grey Goose ran $13 and Titos was $11. Not bad. The touristy, mixed drinks will run about $15-$18.

When we got our table, I was surprised we were being ushered inside. I figured the inside was going to be just as nice as the outside.

Well….it kind of is.

What we didn’t expect was that the indoor dining tables are literally in the bowling alley with no modern flare: just your typical red vinyl-covered chairs and cheap looking tables reminiscent of what you’d find behind your local bowling lanes — where you’d usually grab a hot dog or pitcher of beer.

When I browsed the menu, I expected a menu similar to a Yard House or Lazy Dog. It wasn’t. It was more typical of what you’d find next door at ESPN Zone. Burgers will run $22-$25. Pizzas about the same. There are a few entrees, but I’ve gone to my share of places that don’t specialize in fish or steak and know better. However,the pasta dishes might be worth a try.

Overall, while I was pretty disappointed with the food and indoor dining area, I would definitely visit again and go for a seat on the patio or do some bowling.

Grade: B-

January 3, 2018 by Edwin Baloloy

For Condo Owners: Which year were you better off selling? 2010? Or 2017?

If you’ve read my prior blogs related to this subject, you’ll know my stance on rising home values: who it benefits and who’s at a disadvantage.

As the speculation of a Real Estate bubble increases, I wanted to rehash this subject: if you’re a homeowner with equity, are you better off “moving up” in a market where prices have gone up? Or are you better off when prices go lower?

Most unsophisticaed homeowners will focus too much on their home’s value and that’s where the misperception starts. I constantly heard “My home went up by X…” in 2006 from delighted homeowners.

The true way of answering this question is consider BOTH transactions.

Let’s set a few assumptions up. A typical “move up” situation involves the sale of a property owned and buying another. In most cases, the “move up” property being bought is larger. (If the property being bought is smaller, we sometimes refer to this as “downsizing” in Real Estate, which is a similar scenario.) Of course, if you can hang on to your existing property that would be ideal, but most won’t qualify for a loan or don’t have the necessary funds in the bank.

Sale of Starter Home – let’s assume the property that you own is a townhouse or condo between 1,100 to 1,400 square feet in the city of Brea, which is very similar to many Orange County markets with it’s mix of older homes and new development, affluency, and ethnic distribution.

“Move Up” Home – for this discussion, we’ll use a fully detached home from 1,800 to 2,500 square feet. Also in the City of Brea.

As you can see from the graphic above, that’s a whopping difference of $54,000! In other words, the difference between your home and the replacement home increases as the market goes up.

Furthermore, when the market softens, you have other advantages: more selection when you purchase, lower closing costs, and lower property taxes.

The Verdict: given this information, if you plan on buying a “move up” home, don’t be discouraged if you see prices dropping a bit. It’s actually to your advantage.

December 4, 2017 by Edwin Baloloy

CtrCity: Free Shuttle Transportation next to Stadium Lofts and The Domain of Anahiem

Part of the Anaheim Resort Transportation (ART), the CtrCity/Platinum Triangle line allows residents of Colony Park, The Domain and Stadium Lofts of Anaheim one more option to using their cars or Uber to get around the local attractions of Anaheim.

Stops include: The Arctic transportation center, Honda Center, Angel Stadium, Platinum Triangle, Olive Street, The Colony, Packing District, and Center Street Promenade.

The shuttle runs daily with 2 schedules: weekdays and weekends. At time of this blog’s publishing, there were 9 pickups in the AM and 7 pickups in the evening for weekdays and 2 pickups in the AM and almost hourly pickups in the PM on the weekends. View updated information here.

Ctr Destination Map (click to enlarge) from Center Street Promenade